The filmmaker's lawyer insists that the action in no way reflects a 'copyright judgement'
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 30, 2016)

Shirish Kunder's short film Kriti which was widely acclaimed upon its release on June 22 was soon embroiled in a plagiarism controversy after Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane accused Kunder (Mirror, June 25) of ripping off his own short, Bob, claiming that his film was put up on Vimeo seven months before Kriti. Now, in light of Aneel's copyright infringement claims, YouTube has taken down Kriti.

“YouTube promptly removes content when it receives a notification from copyright owners or from third party agencies operating on their behalf. The site's Copyright Infringement Notification allows copyright holders to identify an infringing video for removal after which the users are notified. The accused party may then dispute the action, filing a formal counter-notification. If that is filed in good faith, we may restore the content, unless the claimant notifies us within 10 business days that he she has filed an action seeking a court order regarding the infringing content,“ a YouTube spokesperson informed Mirror. Meanwhile, advocate Rizwan Siddiquee who is representing Shirish Kunder and Muvizz.com which has co-produced the film along with its lead actor Manoj Bajpayee states, “Aneel Neupane has already been served a legal notice. Now, it's up to him to substantiate his allegations. We will wait and see how genuine his claims are. Unfortunately, my client's film, Kriti, was pulled down as a result of an automated system at YouTube, which reacts to claims by any random person in the same way. It is in no way a reflection of copyright judgement.“

Elaborating on the action the makers have taken to get the film reinstated, Siddiquee says that they have already written to YouTube and initiated the process of reinstating it at the earliest. “Keeping in mind the larger interests of all viewers and considering the fact that my client's film has been viewed almost three million times within a span of six days, my clients have, in the meantime, uploaded the film on Muvizz.com, Dailymotion, Vimeo and Facebook,“ he reiterated. Aneel Neupane didn't respond to our messages on Facebook. Calls to the contact mentioned on his official Facebook page revealed that it was a wrong number.

Meanwhile, a poster of Japanese film Ghost Theatre has surfaced online which bears striking similarity to Kriti's. Siddiqee, when contacted, responded with “no comments“.


-------------------------
Shirish Kunder’s controversial short film went missing yesterday from YouTube over copyright row; makers claim it is merely a computerised response
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 30, 2016)

In yet another twist to the copyright row that Shirish Kunder’s short film, Kriti, has been embroiled in, the psycho thriller was pulled down from YouTube yesterday. A message appears on the film’s link instead: ‘This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Aneel Neupane’. The Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma-starrer, which has reportedly garnered over 2.5 million views so far, could not be viewed since the early hours of Wednesday.

Due to legal implications, Kunder cannot make any statement. His advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, who is representing both Kunder and Muvizz. com, the producers of the film, states, “Kriti was pulled down due to the automated system of YouTube which reacts to copyright claims by any random person in the same way. It is a computerised response. It is, in no way, a reflection of the copyright judgment. We have already written to YouTube to restore Kriti at the earliest.”

Kunder’s film landed in a controversy after its launch on June 22 when Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane alleged that Kriti was a copy of his short film, BOB. He alleged that Kunder had stolen his concept and that the film’s situations and characters were identical to his. On Tuesday, Kunder sent Neupane a legal notice demanding an unconditional, written apology and asked him to refrain from making any oral or written comments on Kriti.

Siddiquee adds, “Aneel Neupane has already been served a legal notice. He now has to substantiate his allegations and prove the genuineness of his claims. Keeping in mind the viewers and considering the fact that my client’s film has been viewed almost three million times within a short span of six days, Kriti has been uploaded on Muvizz. com, Dailymotion, Vimeo and Facebook.”

Neupane had earlier posted on Facebook: “I’m angry not because Mr Shirish Kunder practically stole the plot and made it into his film. I’m angry because we didn’t even have lunch money while shooting BOB, and a spotboy for Kriti probably made more money than BOB’S entire budget. My team and I didn’t work just so some rich dude from India could turn it into this and get away with it. That’s just not fair (sic).”